We take a look at why you shouldn't use free download NDS games for R4

Since its release just over six years ago Nintendo's DS handheld console has gone on to sell more than 145,000,000 units across the globe, making it the most successful handheld video game system since the Nintendo Game Boy all those years ago. With so many consoles sold you'd expect that the system is a veritable gold mine for game developers, however that isn't quite the case.

In around 2008 a device known as the R4 flash cartridge was released that enabled Nintendo DS users to download and play the latest games free of charge. Despite the fact that video game piracy has been much publicised in the last twenty years as being a fairly massive problem for the industry, a surprising amount of people still don't realise quite how illegal the whole process is.

These R4 cartridges went on to sell millions of units, and were ultimately found to be illegal and banned in many countries on the basis that they are almost exclusively used for piracy. However the damage has been done for Nintendo, and there are many places around the world where counterfeit or downloaded games vastly outnumber the amount of legitimate game sales, with China being a prime example.

In these countries it can be impossible for Nintendo to even break even on their multi-million selling device. This has the knock on effect of costing game developers millions in sales, and given the fact that the average game now costs anywhere between £1,000,000 and £6,000,000 to develop over a number of years, piracy has put huge strain on the industry.

In the last few years we have seen a number of well known game studios closing down due to a mixture of reasons, but lost revenue due to piracy has always ranked quite highly on the list of causes. Before you go searching for free download NDS games for R4, we strongly recommend that you look at some of the more affordable legal options instead.

With second hand game sales as popular as ever these days, you should have no problem picking up your favourite titles online for a fraction of their original cost, meaning that there's absolutely no excuse for piracy in this day and age.